BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 01: New York Democratic congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks at a rally calling on Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) to reject Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court on October 1, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. Sen. Flake is scheduled to give a talk at the Forbes 30 under 30 event in Boston after recently calling for a one week pause in the confirmation process to give the FBI more time to investigate sexual assault allegations. (Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

I wake up around 5:30 most mornings and like most people I have a well-defined routine. I smack my snooze button on my old-school Sanyo alarm clock, then crawl out of bed. I practically sleepwalk into my living room, turn on the lights, grab a glass of water, plop on my couch. Once my brain begins to turn on, I flip on my TV, radio, and computer and begin consuming news and browsing news aggregators from overnight.

As I scroll through news sites, I can’t help but stumble upon trends and the latest has been the daily headlines from outlets that often rag on newly elected Democratic Representative-Elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York’s 14th district.

Not sure who she is? Ocasio-Cortez made history this year by becoming the youngest elected female member to the U.S. House of Representatives and is a self-proclaimed Democratic-Socialist.

She’s 29 years old and what’s amazing about her story is that she has not spent a single day in office. In fact, her first official day will be January 3rd, 2019. And yet, she is already creating a stir in Washington.

Don’t believe me? Here’s a few headlines from this morning:

'Ridiculous' it's unconstitutional for Ocasio-Cortez to run for president - Vox

Ocasio-Cortez on call to run for president: ‘How about … no’ – The Hill

I’m 29 years-old too and couldn’t imagine being in her position at this age. Regardless, we need to address this news phenomenon for what it is.

She’s very active on social media and right-wing news sources are obsessed with her. Political readers from both sides of the aisle hang on to every tweet and can’t believe that she’s preaching the ideals of a Democratic-socialist. My right-wing friends are secretly terrified of her and want to silence her. They paint her as a moron.

To my friends on the right, she’s one representative in a House of 435. Sure, she’s annoying on Twitter and I’m sure that you and I disagree with her on many philosophies, but in this new age of American politics, there are many politicians that are annoying on Twitter…

And to my friends on the left, this is not a piece where I’m trying to stand up and rescue the damsel in distress. I’m also not a misogynist. I’m genuinely happy for her and the energy she’s created in Washington. I have zero political affiliation. I try my best to be objective and call things as I see them and there’s no doubt that her primary victory over mainstay Democrat Joe Crowley was historical.

However, I disagree with most of Ocasio-Cortez’s political philosophies. In her young political career, she appears to have a poor grasp of basic economics. She, like many, think that the government has endless funding and her views on climate change are extreme. All topics are fodder for another piece.

The difference between this piece and the stories I read every morning is that I believe that Ocasio-Cortez should have a place to express her viewpoints. She was elected fairly and has a right to be noisy like other politicians, but people shouldn’t obsess over her.

Ocasio-Cortez represents something bigger for American politics and one that the Republican Party should strive for… youth.

I cannot count how many times I’ve seen prominent Republican figures targeting her on their TV hits with, “Can you believe that 29-year old Ocasio-Cortez said,” or, “Clearly Ocasio-Cortez is not ready for prime-time.” This needs to stop.

These people need to get over it. She’s going to be around for at least two years and yes, she is going to say dumb things, but so do the other 434 members of House of Representatives.

I don’t understand why Republicans have such a problem recruiting young-budding politicians. Their youngest representative is Elise Stefanik, who represents New York’s 21st district. She’s been in office since 2014, but when’s the last time you heard something about her? She’s 34 now and admittingly I had to look her up for this piece.

In her three years in office, why hasn’t she made a name for herself or strove to promote youth in the Republican party?

Republicans need to find a way to channel young voices. In some of the right-wing pieces I’ve read it almost feels like there’s a problem with America’s youth which is not a strategy for party longevity.

So, let’s all relax and stop the keyboard war for a day about Ocasio-Cortez. Let’s wait until she spends a meaningful day in the 116th United States Congress and hopefully in the next two years we can make a meaningful judgement of her.

Jared Yamamoto is a Doctrinaire and Producer of The Von Haessler Doctrine radio show heard daily from 9-Noon on News 95.5 and AM 750 in Atlanta, Georgia.

News

With no end in sight to the partial government shutdown, and the possibility that 800,000 federal workers will miss another paycheck at the end of this week, the Trump Administration reported Monday that ‘unscheduled absences’ by TSA airport screeners hit 10 percent on Sunday, with that number jumping over the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend, as security screeners continue to work without pay because of a battle between the President and Democrats in Congress over funding for a border wall. “TSA experienced a national rate of 10 percent of unscheduled absences compared to a 3.1 percent rate one year ago on the same weekday,” the Transportation Security Administration reported, again using the same language in a daily news release that “many employees are reporting that they are not able to report to work due to financial limitations.” The number of absent screeners had held around 6 percent much of last week, but the TSA reported the number of screeners not showing up for work as planned hit 7 percent on Friday, 8 percent on Saturday, and then 10 percent on Sunday. . @TSA says that 10 percent of its workforce had an 'unscheduled absence' Sunday, compared to just 3.1 percent on the same day last year; that means more than 3,000 TSA agents called off #GovernmentShutdown — Gabe Gutierrez (@gabegutierrez) January 21, 2019 The TSA said in a news release that ‘99.9 percent of passengers waited less than 30 minutes’ to go through airport screening on Sunday. But on Saturday, excessive sick calls by TSA airport screeners forced officials at Baltimore-Washington International Airport to use emergency plans to deal with the lack of airport screeners, closing a major security checkpoint early at the airport. That major checkpoint for Southwest Airlines flights wasn’t closed for just a few hours – but remained shut down on Sunday and Monday as well, because of a lack of security screeners. “It is important to clarify that it is not unusual for TSA and BWI Marshall to open or close one of our security checkpoints,” the airport said in a written statement. “This will have minimal, if any, impact on passengers and no impact on airport operations,” the BWI statement read. . @TSA in collaboration with airport authorities &amp; servicing airlines will be exercising a contingency plan at @BWI_Airport due to excessive callouts. Checkpoint A will be closing at 5:35pm. Passengers should arrive early for evening flights. Contact airport &amp; airlines for updates — TSA (@TSA) January 19, 2019 Earlier this month, press reports of airport screeners calling in sick because of the government shutdown – and the lack of pay for screeners – was denounced as ‘fake news’ by a top Department of Homeland Security spokesman, as well as the White House. Like other federal workers, TSA screeners have been coming to work since the partial government shutdown started on December 22; they were paid as scheduled on December 29, but missed a check on January 11, and a second check may not be paid on January 25.

A group of five black men shouting vulgar insults while protesting centuries of oppression. Dozens of white Catholic high school students visiting Washington for a rally to end abortion. And Native Americans marching to end injustice for indigenous peoples across the globe who have seen their lands overrun by outside settlers. The three groups met for just a few minutes Friday at the base of the Lincoln Memorial, an encounter captured in videos that went viral over the weekend — and again cast a spotlight on a polarized nation that doesn't appear to agree on anything. At first the focus was on a short video showing one of the high school students, Nick Sandmann, wearing a red 'Make America Great Again' hat and appearing to smirk while a crowd of other teens laughed derisively behind him as a 64-year-old Native American, Nathan Phillips, played a traditional chant on a drum. Pull back further and a different view emerged, however, in a separate video showing members of a group calling itself the Black Hebrew Israelites taunting everyone on the mall that day, calling the Native Americans who had gathered there for the Indigenous Peoples March 'Uncle Tomahawks' and '$5 Indians' and the high school students 'crackers' and worse. It was an ugly encounter of spewed epithets but one that nevertheless ended with no punches thrown or other violence. Still, the videos were all over social media, again appearing to illustrate a nation of such deep divisions — racial, religious and ideological — that no one was willing to listen to the others' point of view. Add to that the political tensions spilling over from a government shutdown that has gone on for a month and the stage was set for a viral moment. But in this case it didn't tell the whole story, all the parties involved agree. 'I would caution everyone passing judgment based on a few seconds of video to watch the longer video clips that are on the internet, as they show a much different story than is being portrayed by people with agendas,' Sandmann, a junior, said in a statement released late Sunday. Sandmann's statement does seem at odds with some video from the confrontation that showed students from his school, Covington Catholic High in Park Hills, Kentucky, laughing at Phillips' Native American group and mockingly singing along with him, as well as interviews with Phillips who said he heard the students shout 'Build that wall!' and 'Go back to the reservation!' The fullest view of what happened that Friday afternoon came from a nearly two-hour video posted on Facebook by Shar Yaqataz Banyamyan. It showed members of his Black Hebrew Israelite group repeatedly interacting with the crowd as people from the Indigenous Peoples March and the high school students vigorously argued with them for a few minutes. Sandmann said in his statement the students from his all-male high school were waiting for their buses near Banyamyan's group when the latter started to taunt them. One of the students took off his shirt and the teens started to do a haka — a war dance of New Zealand's indigenous Maori culture, made famous by the country's national rugby team. Phillips, an elder of the Omaha tribe, and Marcus Frejo, a member of the Pawnee and Seminole tribes, said they felt the students were mocking the dance and walked over to intervene. Phillips and Sandmann locked eyes, their faces inches apart. Both men said their goal was simply to make sure things didn't get out of hand. But caught on video, the encounter still went viral. The high school students felt they were unfairly portrayed as villains in a situation where they say they were not the provocateurs. 'I am being called every name in the book, including a racist, and I will not stand for this mob-like character assassination,' Sandmann said in his statement. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington apologized for the incident, promising an investigation that could lead to punishment up to expulsion if any wrongdoing by the students was determined. The Indigenous Peoples Movement felt the encounter was a reminder the U.S. was founded on racism and President Donald Trump's presidency is rekindling hatred based on skin color. 'Trump has riled up a reactionary voting block that reminds us that we are a nation founded on patriarchy, genocide and racism. Trump is clearly giving these archaic instincts license, encouraging the kind of aggressive goading that I witnessed,' movement spokesman Chase Iron Eyes said in a statement. Banyamyan posted his own reaction on Facebook, referencing the dozens of high school students in their Make America Great Again gear coming over to his group of five and chanting. In a rambling video, he also praised Phillips and compared Sandmann to the devil. After the sun set and the Covington high school students left, Banyamyan's video showed a few police officers stopping by to check on his group as they were wrapping up their protest. One of the officers said they were worried by the number of people that briefly massed in that one spot. One of the Black Hebrew Israelites said there were no problems. 'We weren't threatened by them,' he said. 'It was an OK dialogue.

A 14-foot aluminum boat flipped over on the Chattahoochee River on Monday afternoon, authorities confirmed. A man and woman were fishing while inside the boat along with their dog, and all three ended up in the chilly water, Hall County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Derrick Booth told Channel 2 Action News. The boat flipped over near the Lula Road bridge. The man was able to make his way back to the bank, but the woman was holding onto a tree limb in the water when first responders arrived, Booth said. She was in the water for about 25 minutes before being rescued. The dog was also in the water and Hall County Fire launched a boat that was able to rescue the dog, he said. All three were about 50 yards away from the shore when their boat capsized, Booth said. The man and woman were taken to Northeast Georgia Medical Center to be evaluated because of the cold temperature of the water. They are expected to be OK, Channel 2 reported. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources is investigating the incident. In other news:

The 2019 Oscar nominations will revealed LIVE Tuesday on 'Good Morning America.' The nominations event will start around 8:20 a.m. The Academy announced last week that Kumail Nanjiani and Tracee Ellis Ross will host the event. Who's excited for #OscarNoms? Join @KumailN and @TraceeEllisRoss on Tuesday at 5:20 am PST. https://t.co/cZbmfjsA1S pic.twitter.com/drK62oiFDk — The Academy (@TheAcademy) January 17, 2019 In addition to watching on Channel 2, the event will also be streamed on The Academy's YouTube channel. WATCH 'Good Morning America' immediately following Channel 2 Action News This Morning, starting at 4:30 a.m.

Family and friends are remembering a University of Georgia student who died in a fiery crash. William Aaron Whitaker, of Carrollton, died Thursday night in the crash that shut down the interstate between I-285 and Fulton Industrial Boulevard for about 10 hours, UGA spokesman Greg Trevor told AJC.com. Learn how his loved ones are honoring him, on Channel 2 Action News at 5 p.m. Whitaker was a sophomore studying exercise science and athletic training, according to an obituary on the Hightower Family Funeral Homes website. Mario Vilan Polier, 53, of Hialeah, Florida, faces charges of improper lane change, following too closely and second-degree homicide by vehicle in connection with the incident. Polier’s tractor-trailer overturned onto its passenger side while traveling on I-20 east around 7:30 p.m., crashing into a concrete barrier between the eastbound and westbound lanes, the Georgia State Patrol said. Debris from the concrete barrier went into the westbound lanes, striking two vehicles. TRENDING STORIES: Blood pressure medication recalled due to cancer risk Heads up, drivers: Multiple roads close for Super Bowl events beginning today DFCS dismissed abuse report before Georgia kids were found buried One of those vehicles was Whitaker’s, who died at the scene, GSP said. Three other people were also injured in the crash, but their conditions were not released. The deadly wreck shut down all eastbound I-20 lanes and all but one westbound lane Thursday night, and it brought brought I-20 traffic to a standstill back to Thornton Road, according to the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center. Polier is in the Fulton County Jail on a $35,000 bond, according to county jail records. He also has a hold placed on him by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A 9-year-old boy driving an all-terrain vehicle crashed over the weekend, killing a 58-year-old passenger in Osceola County, the Florida Highway Patrol said. >> Read more trending news Troopers said the boy was trying to avoid another ATV Saturday on 8 Mile Ranch Road when the vehicle he was operating hit a brim and overturned onto Laura Bizzell, of Avon Park. The boy suffered minor injuries, but Bizzell died, according to the FHP. The other ATV driver, Samuel Christmas, 53, suffered minor injuries. Authorities continue to investigate the incident.